Interview Tips for a Hotel Job

By Catherine Capozzi; Updated July 05, 2017

If working at a hotel or resort is your idea of paradise, nailing the interview is important for getting your foot in the luxurious door. Read the interview tips below on how to have a successful job interview for a hotel position.

Image Is Everything

Hotel employees' uniforms are worn to convey an impression of organization and professionalism. Strive to create that exact image when interviewing for a position. Womenforhire.com suggests women wear conservative attire: Skirts are fine, but keep the length no higher than the knee. Wear minimal jewelry—studs are better than hoop earrings, and rings should be limited to one per hand. Keep a neutral color palate when applying makeup. Men should wear a suit and tie, or at the very least black pants and a button-up long-sleeve shirt.

Along with presenting a neat appearance, smile often. Hotel employees are expected to maintain a positive demeanor no matter the circumstances; thus, smiling often during the interview is important. Appear at ease, and watch what you are doing with your hands: If necessary, keep them folded in your lap and keep them there. Practice interview answers in front of the mirror. The point is to convey a relaxed attitude: If vacationers are staying at the hotel, they want the employees to help them feel at ease.

Be Flexible

Hotels do not close on Christmas or Labor Day. Weekends can be their busiest days of the week. When asked about availability, be honest, but understand that an inability to work on certain holidays or days of the week limits your chance of getting hired. Hotels look for candidates with a wide-open schedule. Working at a hotel usually means sacrificing many weekends and holidays. In the interview, you may even want to express your willingness to work overtime and cover various shifts.

Emphasize Reliability

Some of the best assets a hotel employee can have are punctuality and reliability. If asked in an interview about your best qualities, stress your great attendance record at prior jobs as well as your willingness to cover shifts and work overtime. Hotel managers want individuals who can show up on time and help where needed. For this reason, appearing on time to the interview is essential. If the interview starts at 4 p.m. and is a 30-minute drive away, leave at 3 p.m. and spend half an hour collecting your thoughts.

Accentuate Customer-Service Skills

Even if your last job was data entry while wearing headphones, try extrapolating instances when you worked with others as a team. Place customer-service details first on your resume, and highlight those points often in an interview. Also be prepared for customer-oriented questions. The manager will likely ask you for an instance when you resolved a situation with an angry customer, or how you define great customer service. Jobinterviewquestions.org provides an extensive variety of questions managers could ask. Read them to get a better idea of what to expect. Practice answers in the car so they can be delivered with confidence and a smile.

References

About the Author

Since 2008 Catherine Capozzi has been writing business, finance and economics-related articles from her home in the sunny state of Arizona. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in economics from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, which has given her a love of spreadsheets and corporate life.